John Makin: Learning to Love the Sequester

John Makin

Feb. 13, 2013 7:07 p.m. ET

In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Obama played on Congress's fears that an abrupt spending sequester at a rate of about $110 billion per year ($1.1 trillion over 10 years) scheduled to begin March 1 would devastate the economy. "These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts," warned Mr. Obama, would "slow our recovery and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs."

The sequester admittedly will produce short-term pain for those served by affected programs. But the impact will be limited. Cutting...